ILoveMakonnen, "Tuesday"

ILoveMakonnen, "Tuesday"

Mixtape: Sorry 4 the Wait 2 (2015)Background: Lil Wayne's brand new mixtape is, in part, an unflinching attack against his longtime label, Cash Money Records, which Wayne says is holding his album Tha Carter V prisoner. (The delays have stretched to nine long months so far.) But it's also Weezy's latest turn at rapping over everyone else's beats. For ILoveMakonnen's "Tuesday"—which conquered the world in 2014, along with a remix featuring Young Money's very own Drake—Wayne swerves away from the woozy, boozy original and turns the hypnotic track into an A-through-Z tour of all the women he's...um...romanced.

Note: Weezy mixtape career is (a) possibly his best body of work, and (b) packed with remixes of rap classics by T.I., Nas, Cam'ron, 2Pac, Mobb Deep, Young Jeezy, UGK, Gucci Mane, Rick Ross, and tons more. It's a wonderful world, one that any rap fan or Wayne must explore. For today, we're focusing on Weezy's takes on uber-popular tracks, the ones by pop stars and radio-ruling arena rappers.

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Beyoncé, "Upgrade U"

Beyoncé, "Upgrade U"

Mixtape: Da Drought 3 (2007)Highlight: "And I just signed a chick called Nicki Minaj." Whoa—history in the making. (Also: "I'm so motherf*ckin' high, I can eat a star.")

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Drake, "Started from the Bottom"

Drake, "Started from the Bottom"

Mixtape: Dedication 5 (2013)Background: After turning in a kinda weak remix of "Marvins Room" on Sorry 4 the Wait, Wayne nails a take one of his little bro's biggest singles.

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Jay Z, "D.O.A."

Jay Z, "D.O.A."

Mixtape: No Ceilings(2009)Background: Jay Z did his best to put Auto-Tune in the grave on his 2009 single from The Blueprint 3. He gave a nod the "old-school," pre-Auto-Tune Lil Wayne, saying, "I might send this to the mixtape Weezy." So Tunechi responded with his own remix and sampled the line.

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Black Eyed Peas, "I Gotta Feeling"

Black Eyed Peas, "I Gotta Feeling"

Mixtape: No Ceilings (2009)Background: On a collection that mostly featured straight rap beats—underground beats, '90s beats, superstar beats—Wayne surprisingly sampled the Black Eyed Peas pop smash and tweaked the title to "I Got No Ceilings." And he kept the fun-loving hook.

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Adele, "Rolling in the Deep"

Adele, "Rolling in the Deep"

Mixtape: Sorry 4 the Wait(2011)Background: The track's not called "Rolling in the Deep" on the mixtape, so when that thumping guitar kicks in, it's kind of a shock. But by the middle, Weezy's completely taken over the instrumental and made it his own.

Beyoncé, "Run the World (Girls)"

Beyoncé, "Run the World (Girls)"

Mixtape: Sorry 4 the Wait(2011)Background: Two songs after covering Adele, Weezy closes out his Sorry 4 the Wait with a stream-of-consciousness series of shoutouts—with multilayered shouts popping up all over the place. It's a trip.

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Wu-Tang Clan, "C.R.E.A.M."

Wu-Tang Clan, "C.R.E.A.M."

Mixtape: Dedication 5 (2013)Highlight: "Soon as I learned how to talk I talked business / Ni**a's ain't safe, all 9 innings / And to you it's just change, I want every JC Penny / And I walk up in your funeral late, suit rented"

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OutKast, "SpottieOttieDopaliscious"

OutKast, "SpottieOttieDopaliscious"

Mixtape:Dedication 4(2012)Background: Weezy goes way back to 1998's Aquemini to close his mixtape with a superlong, laid-back list of thank-yous—just like he did the year before with Beyoncé's "Run the World (Girls)" on Sorry 4 the Wait.

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Jay Z, "Show Me What You Got"

Jay Z, "Show Me What You Got"

Mixtape:Da Drought 3 (2007)Best Part: Weezy took a single from Jay Z's much-maligned 2006 comeback album, Kingdom Come, renamed it "Dough Is What I Got," and opened it with the words, "This...is...a public service announcement: Little Wayne, Weezy F. Baby, is...the best rapper alive." Bold, and, in 2007, dead-on.

Beyoncé, "Sweet Dreams"

Beyoncé, "Sweet Dreams"

Mixtape: No Ceilings (2009)Background: Wayne loves rhyming on Beyoncé tracks; there's no denying it. On Sorry 4 the Wait 2, he teams with Christina Milian for "Drunk in Love." (It's...not great. But it exists!) Earlier, Weezy did a tasty flip of "Sweet Dreams" to close out No Ceilings—and a version with a nasty Nicki Minaj verse also hit the internet.

Bonus: '500 Days of Weezy'

Bonus: '500 Days of Weezy'

Anyone who could dream up Lil Wayne rapping over the Smiths is an evil genius. And Mr. Patrick Moberg did exactly that in 2010, swirling the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack and some of Lil Wayne's best verses for 500 Days of Weezy. The release functions like a one-of-a-kind mixtape, featuring Weezy's "Mrs. Officer" set against Regina Spektor's "Us," "Lollipop" vs. Hall & Oates' "You Make My Dreams," and more.

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